


Flux and Straw

by Qille



Series: Dark Magic [2]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Amputation, Blood, Death, F/M, M/M, Poison, Stabbing, Swearing, a bunch of bad shit happens, flux - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-02
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-11 02:00:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5609614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qille/pseuds/Qille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The day Strawfingers attacked was the day it all went wrong. </p><p>It had seemed like a straightforward fight. They defeated him and thought everything was fixed. They didn't know they awakened something much more dangerous. Now it's a race against time to save their world and each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Scarecrow

**Author's Note:**

> This story is when it starts to get good. Trust me, you'll enjoy this one.

**Prologue**

It had been just another normal day in the lab.

Lalna was teaching Nano how to make interdiction torches, because they'd been having a bit of trouble with Endermen lately. They were halfway through the crafting recipe when an alarm went off.

Lalna jumped and ran to his computer. He frantically started typing.

“What's wrong?” asked Nano, coming up behind Lalna and looking over his shoulder at the computer.

“I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it's bad,” said Lalna. Suddenly, a picture appeared on the screen. It looked to be footage from a security camera. They recognized the building as the Jaffa factory.

Sitting on the floor was a small figure, nearly out of frame. There was blood splattered all over the floor.

“Okay, I'll be right back,” said Lalna, running out the door. “Nano, stay here and use the TNT canon on anyone who looks evil.”

Running outside, Lalna activated his jet boots and shot towards the factory. As he flew, he made sure the plasma canon on his mechanical arm was charged.

When he reached the factory, it was already sunset. He burst through the door and ran inside, flying up to the top floor where the security camera footage had come from.

There he found Honeydew, sobbing and curled up in a ball on the floor with blood splattered on the ground around him. The dwarf had a black eye and a large bruise on his forehead.

“Honeydew, what happened?” exclaimed Lalna, kneeling down next to his friend.

“He got him!” cried Honeydew, barely able to speak. “He got Xephos!”

“Honeydew, focus,” said Lalna, putting both hands on Honeydew's shoulders. “Who took Xephos?”

Honeydew wiped his eyes. “The scarecrow,” he stammered, his voice cracking. “He knocked me out and took Xeph...”

Lalna's eyes widened and all the color drained from his face. “It wasn't a purple scarecrow, was it...?” he asked quietly.

Honeydew nodded.

Lalna nearly fell over. “O-okay, go get Lomadia, and hurry!” he exclaimed.

Then, without waiting for Honeydew to say anything, he turned and flew through the hole in the roof and back to his castle.

He crash landed in the main courtyard, and he ran to the door and threw it open.

Nano was inside, standing at a crafting table. She was so shocked by Lalna's sudden appearance that she accidentally knocked everything off the table.

“Lalna!” she exclaimed. “What happened?”

Lalna didn't even get the chance to step inside and close the door.

There was a sudden sharp pain in his back and chest, and the end of a sword burst through his chest. Nano screamed, Lalna let out a sharp cry, and the person who had stabbed him pulled the sword out.

Lalna dropped to the ground, bleeding profusely from the wound.

The scarecrow was standing over him, holding a bloody sword.

Instead of finishing him off, the scarecrow turned and sprinted forward, grabbing Nano, who had been too shocked by the sudden attack to grab her sword in time.

She kicked and screamed and cried out for Lalna as she was dragged out the door.

The only thing Lalna could do was reach for her and whisper her name.

Then the pain and blood loss rendered him unconscious.

**XXX**

Lalna slowly became aware of the pain and darkness. Every time he inhaled, it felt like someone setting his lungs on fire. His chest felt warm and wet.

Slowly, he became aware of voices around him. A male and a female. They were talking to him, trying to get him to open his eyes.

He felt something being dripped into the wound, and at first it burned, but then the sensation changed and became cool and less painful.

He slowly opened his eyes.

Honeydew and Lomadia were looking down at him. Lomadia was holding a potion of healing in her hand.

“H-he got away...” stammered Lalna, trying to sit up only to be stopped by the pain and nauseating dizziness.

“Lie still,” Lomadia told him, dripping a bit more of the potion into the wound. “You aren't fully healed yet.”

Lalna shook his head. “I'm fine,” he said. “We have to go after them. The longer we wait the further away they get!”

“We don't know where he's taking them...” whispered Honeydew, looking ready to start crying at any second.

Lalna shook his head and sat up before Lomadia could stop him. He grimaced in pain, but he wouldn't accept any more medicine. Every second was precious.

“I know where we can find out.”

**XXX**

They burst into the Sipsco compound about fifteen minutes later. Sips had fallen asleep at his desk, but he woke up with a start when they came in. He was especially shocked to see Lalna covered in blood.

“Where's Sjin?” demanded Lalna, his voice betraying his pain and anger.

“Calm down, Livid,” said Sips, holding up his hands and leaning as far away from Lalna as possible. “He's in his office.” He gestured to the small broom cupboard.

Lalna ripped the door open and walked inside. He emerged a minute later dragging a terrified looking Sjin by the collar.

“What's going on?!” exclaimed Sjin frantically.

“Who is the scarecrow and what does he want?” demanded Lalna.

Sjin stared at him. “Scarecrow?” his face was growing pale.

“Yeah, the living purple flux infused scarecrow,” said Lalna. “You told me about him. He attacked us and kidnapped Xephos and Nano.”

“He took them?!” exclaimed Sjin, still shocked.

“Yeah, he knocked Honeydew unconscious and stabbed Lalna in the chest, now will you please just tell us where he's going and what he's doing?” exclaimed Lomadia.

Sjin gulped. “He's probably going back to my farm,” he choked out. “I don't know what he's doing. I've never actually heard him speak before.”

Lalna nodded and turned to the others. “I know where his farm is. Let's go.”

He pulled Honeydew and Lomadia out the door before Sjin or a very questioning Sips could say anything.

**XXX**

Nano woke up leaning against a cold stone wall. She looked around and realized she wasn't chained up, but she was still in a cell. Her head hurt, probably from where Strawfingers had hit her.

That was when she realized she wasn't alone.

Looking to her left, she saw Xephos sitting next to her. He was curled up in a ball, his eyes closed, concentrating on breathing deeply.

“Xeph?” she whispered, too afraid to talk loudly. “Are you okay?”

Xephos looked at her, and she realized he was absolutely terrified.

“I'm fine,” he stammered, even though he had his bloodstained hands wrapped around his abdomen and his shirt was covered in blood.

“Are you sure?” asked Nano, taking into account how pale he looked.

Xephos nodded, and Nano could see a thin layer of sweat breaking across his forehead. “Yeah... I... I just don't feel very well...”

“I can see why...” muttered Nano, finally shifting into a position where she could see the gaping wound on his side. She scooted over and pressed her hand against his forehead. At least he didn't have a fever.

Suddenly, he gasped a bit and clutched his side. Nano could see more blood dripping out from between his fingers.

Nano wished she could help him, but she didn't have anything she could use as a bandage or a sedative. Instead, she just reached out and put her arm around his shoulder, pulling him closer.

“Don't worry,” she said. “Knowing Honeydew and Lalna, we won't be here long.”

**XXX**

Lalna was at the controls of his ship, steering it higher to avoid the mountains and volcanoes and enormous trees. Lomadia and Honeydew were barely able to stand because of how fast the ship was going.

It was almost midnight. It had only been a few hours since they were taken.

Lalna focused on the horizon. He ignored the pain in his chest from the unhealed wound, and he refused to accept any more medicine. He saw it as a way of punishing himself for not having the mind to shoot the damn scarecrow while he was lying at its feet bleeding.

He would let himself be healed after Nano and Xephos were safe.

They continued on towards the farm.

**XXX**

Xephos was getting worse.

The pain and the heat and the blood he was swallowing was making him nauseous. He was dizzy and his vision was swimming. He was starting to become feverish.

Nano did everything she could to help. While there wasn't much she could do to stop the bleeding, she kept him calm. She told him stories and kept him distracted from the pain and blood.

After a while, Xephos dozed off, probably from the blood loss more than from calming down. After he did fall asleep though, Nano noticed how tired she was. She assumed it was at least 2 or 3 in the morning.

That was when she heard a door open. The sound also woke Xephos, and he painfully sat up.

A lanky silhouette appeared in the doorway holding something.

The silhouette stepped into the light and revealed itself to be none other than Strawfingers. He was holding a tray with two bowls on it.

Nano and Xephos watched him with wide eyes as the scarecrow knelt down and slid the tray into the cell through a gap in the bottom of the door. Nano could see that it was chicken stew. Using a bit of magic, she even saw that it hadn't been poisoned. Neither of them actually moved to take it though.

“What do you want from us?” Nano asked loudly, looking up at the scarecrow, who had started to walk away.

Strawfingers stopped and turned back around to face them. He tilted his head to the side, the menacing grin never leaving his stitched face.

“Why did you take us?” asked Nano again.

Strawfingers stared at her for a minute before pulling something out of his sleeve. It was a small pad of paper and a piece of graphite. He scribbled something down and tore off the top piece of paper before tossing it to her.

She picked it up and looked at it.

The word “BAIT” was written in horrible illegible handwriting.

“Bait?” mumbled Xephos.

“What are we bait for?” asked Nano angrily.

Strawfingers wrote something else and tossed the paper to them.

“FRIENDS” he wrote. Beneath that, he had written the words “FARM,” “SCIENCE,” and “DIG.”

He was using them as bait to bring Sjin, Lalna, and Honeydew to him.

“So you're using us to get to our friends?” exclaimed Nano.

The scarecrow nodded.

“Is that why we aren't in chains or being tortured?” she asked bitterly.

The scarecrow wrote something else and tossed it to her.

“LIVE BAIT,” the paper said.

“Why do you need our friends?” she asked loudly.

The words on the paper were “REVENGE,” “POWER,” and “MAGIC.”

Then he pulled a small roll of bandages from his sleeve and tossed them inside the cell before turning and leaving.

Nano scrambled forward and grabbed the bandages. Then she spent the next ten minutes getting Xephos bandaged and feeling relieved that he wasn't going to bleed to death.

Neither of them touched the stew.

**XXX**

A few hours later, they arrived at the farm. It was dark out, and there was almost no noise. There were mobs out, but they seemed to keep their distance from the farm.

Lalna carefully landed the ship, and they all stepped out, holding their weapons tightly. Lomadia had her bow, Honeydew had a pick axe and ruby sword, and Lalna had his plasma canon, his mining laser, and an emerald sword.

They ran towards the Nether portal, but they never made it.

The scarecrow appeared on the stairway. It was surrounded by a purple cloud of flux. The word “WHERE?” was spelled out in flux above his head for a moment.

“I should be asking you the same thing!” shouted Honeydew. “Where are they?!”

Strawfingers pointed to the portal. Then he gripped his purple sword and charged at him.

Lomadia unloaded a barrage of arrows at the scarecrow, but they all turned to dust when they hit the cloud of flux. Lalna shot a plasma ball at him, but it was just deflected.

Instead of fighting them when he got to them, Strawfingers simply shoved past them, nearly getting his head taken off by Honeydew.

The scarecrow ran for the ship. They cased after him. Lalna used the controller in his hand to lift the ship into the air and out of the scarecrow's reach.

Suddenly, even though the ship was out of Strawfingers' reach, a beam of light surged down from the back of the ship and began to flow into the purple cloud surrounding him.

Lalna realized what he was doing.

Starting to panic, Lalna slammed headlong into the cloud, but he ricocheted off it.

“What's going on?” exclaimed Lomadia.

“He's using the crystals on my ship to draw more power to himself!” shouted Lalna. “I'll go destroy the crystals. You two be ready for a fight!”

Lalna flew up to the ship and ran inside. By the time he reached the obsidian totems, the node had become unstable and was starting to release a large amount of flux.

Using his mechanical hand, he smashed the crystal, destroying the node.

But that didn't get rid of the flux. There was still enough left to empower the scarecrow enough to make him unbeatable.

Unfortunately, Lalna knew of only one available way to deal with this flux.

Using magic, he gathered all the flux up, pulling it back away from Strawfingers.

The flux formed into a gaseous purple sphere, hovering between the obsidian totems. It was still incredibly dangerous though, and if the scarecrow were to reach it, they would be doomed.

Lalna only had one way to keep it away from him.

He absorbed the flux into himself.

For a moment, he was surrounded by a purple cloud. Then it all disappeared.

For a moment, he felt fine.

Then the dizziness and nausea started. His head began to throb and it became incredibly hard to breathe. Everything inside him began to ache.

Stumbling away from the totems, he tried to make it to the front of his ship.

His hair was hanging in his face, so he could see several streaks start to turn black.

The world was spinning. He heard fighting outside, and the sound of gunfire.

He was ready to be sick. It felt like the flux had gotten into his lungs and was choking him.

He collapsed on the floor.

**XXX**

Only a few seconds after Lalna entered his ship, the flow of magic stopped, and the cloud of flux around the scarecrow disappeared.

Lomadia instantly shot him twice in the back before her string broke.

The scarecrow stood up and ran at them with his sword.

Honeydew met him head on, blocking his attack with his own sword. Then, ducking away from the attack, he spun around and lunged, aiming to stab Strawfingers in the throat.

The scarecrow turned and knocked Honeydew's sword off it's course, and it sliced an inch away from his throat.

Honeydew continued to hack and slash at the scarecrow while Lomadia tried to fix her bow.

That was when Honeydew was disarmed. Strawfingers knocked his sword out of his hand, and it skidded across the ground.

Lomadia managed to get another string in place, and she shot Strawfingers in the leg, not wanting to go for the head-shot for fear of hitting Honeydew in the low light.

The scarecrow whipped around and charged at her. Knowing she didn't have enough time or distance to get another arrow and fire, she ducked out of the way and hit the scarecrow across the head with her bow.

This gave Honeydew enough time to scramble aside and grab his sword.

That was when Strawfingers smashed Lomadia's bow. He hit it right down the center with his sword, and the whole thing cracked nearly in half.

Not missing a beat, Lomadia began using it as a blunt force weapon, trying to cave in the scarecrow's head.

Suddenly, Strawfingers disarmed Lomadia and used her ruined titanium bow and his own sword to break Honeydew's sword in half.

Then they heard the buzzing noise.

Looking up, in the low light, they saw something flying low in the sky at a fast speed towards them.

They recognized it as the Spruce Moose, Sjin's plane.

Honeydew and Lomadia realized what was about to happen. Honeydew ran one way, towards the portal, and Lomadia ran the other way, towards the ship.

There was a sharp cracking sound of rapid gunfire from the plane. The ground exploded around the scarecrow, and he turned and ran. Sjin landed the plane, and he and Sips got out and chased the scarecrow towards the nearby volcano.

Honeydew reached the portal and turned to glance over his shoulder. He saw Lomadia flying up to the ship to go get Lalna.

Turning, Honeydew stepped inside the portal.

A minute later, he found himself in front of a large stone building. He ran to the door and bust it down. Then he found himself in a small living area.

He noticed a set of stairs leading down, so he followed them and found himself in a small dark room.

Then he heard Nano's voice.

“Hello? Who's there?”

Gasping, Honeydew found a torch and lit it. He was shocked to see a small prison cell with Nano and Xephos sitting against the wall.

Xephos gasped when he saw Honeydew. His eyes widened and he grinned.

Honeydew breathed a sigh of relief. They were both alive.

Pulling out his pickaxe, he smashed the lock and pulled the door open, running inside.

He helped Nano to her feet, and they both pulled Xephos upright. He grimaced in pain and clutched his side, leaning heavily against Honeydew for support.

“Xeph, what's wrong?” exclaimed Honeydew.

“It hurts...” whimpered Xephos, doubling over and gasping for breath, blood trickling out of his mouth, the bandages around his abdomen already heavily bloodstained.

“Just hold on a little bit longer,” said Honeydew. “Lomadia and Lalna brought healing potions.”

“Where is Lalna?” asked Nano a bit frantically. The last time she had seen him he had been dying.

“He's fine,” said Honeydew as he and Nano pulled Xephos up the stairs. “He was helping everyone else fight the scarecrow.”

They made it out a few minutes later. They could see Sips and Sjin in the far distance fighting Strawfingers on the slope of the volcano.

The ship had been lowered to the ground, so the three of them climbed inside.

They came around the corner and saw Lomadia and Lalna. Lomadia was at the controls of the ship, and as soon as she saw they were inside, she began to raise the ship.

Lalna, on the other hand, was slumped against the wall, unconscious. There were several crystals on the floor around him, and they could see the black streaks in his hair slowly fading.

“Lalna!” exclaimed Nano, kneeling down next to him.

“Don't touch him,” warned Lomadia.

Nano looked up at her. “Why? What happened?”

“He's got flux poisoning,” said Lomadia. “Those crystals around him are purifying the flux into vis, so he should be back to normal in an hour or two.”

Nano slowly nodded and sat down against the wall next to Lalna, but she still kept a bit of a distance.

Honeydew searched around until he found one of the potions, and he gave it to Xephos, who immediately looked to be in less pain after he took it.

Lomadia flew the ship closer to the volcano. She didn't want to risk using the lasers for fear of releasing some of the lava, so all she could do was watch.

Sips and Sjin were pushing Strawfingers back, closer and closer to the open maw of the volcano.

Suddenly, Strawfingers ended up right on the edge of the volcano. He lost his sword to Sips.

With one long smooth swing, Sjin lopped his head off, and both the head and body fell into the lava.

Nothing moved for a minute after. They waited.

Strawfingers did not resurface.

Sjin dropped his sword, breathing hard. He looked up at the ship and waved. Whoever was inside at the controls waved back, and the ship headed off.

Sjin glanced at Sips, who tossed the scarecrow's sword into the lava before turning and walking back down the slopes. Sjin followed him.

By the time they reached the bottom of the volcano, the sun was on the rise and the ship had disappeared.

“Thanks, Sips,” said Sjin, breathing hard. He stumbled a bit before reaching out and taking Sips' hand.

“Don't mention it,” gasped Sips, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze. 

Sjin smirked a bit. “What's the matter old man?” he asked sarcastically. “Too much work for ya?”

“Eh, shut up,” laughed Sips. “Now take me home so I can take a nap.”

Laughing, they returned to the plane, and Sjin took it to the sky and flew back towards home.

As they flew away, a purple gas escaped from the volcano. It hovered for a minute before disappearing.


	2. One Month Later

Sjin opened his eyes the moment the sun broke the horizon. He sat up and stretched, looking out the window.

“Another glorious day on the farm,” he said happily to himself before climbing out of his bed and getting ready for the day.

It had been a month now since Strawfingers had attacked them, and there hadn't been any disturbances since. Everybody had recovered fairly well, and things were back to normal.

Sjin happily ran around his farm, taking care of the animals and making sure all his machines were functioning properly. He was excited because Sips was coming to visit the farm today.

He was so distracted that he didn't even notice it until he went to check on the wheat farm.

When he saw it, he froze.

In the center of his wheat farm, tied on a fence post cross, was the scarecrow.

Sjin whipped out his sword and held it in front of him, his arms shaking a bit.

The scarecrow didn't move.

That was when Sjin realized something was wrong. Slowly, he crept forwards.

When he reached the platform, he stepped up and saw that it was just the skin. The purple rags were burnt and torn, but still mostly intact.

The skin was empty.

Suddenly, Sjin felt something move behind him. He whipped around and swung his sword, but he was too late.

The massive purple cloud of flux in front of him manifested into a horrible monster with dripping black skin, glowing purple eyes, and long jagged claws. It stopped Sjin's attack and held onto the sword, preventing him from attacking it again.

Then the monster pulled out his own sword – a glowing purple and slightly transparent one – and stabbed Sjin through the chest with it.

Sjin gasped. The sword went right through him, but when Strawfingers pulled it out it only left a shallow wound.

Then the world started to spin, and he collapsed to his knees, instantly drained of all energy as whatever poison was on the sword seeped through him like a wave of ice.

Then he watched in horror as the flux beast in front of him began to shift. It's form changed until it looked just like him.

The doppelgänger smiled and picked Sjin up. Then he tied him to the post and covered him with the scarecrow skin. The last thing Sjin saw before the purple mask came down over his head was himself.

Then he lost consciousness.

**XXX**

Sips arrived at the farm an hour later. He was exhausted from the long walk, so he was in a bit of a mood.

He walked up to the door and slammed his fist against it a couple times.

“Sjin!” he called loudly. “I'm here you big dummy!”

He waited, but there was no answer. He didn't even hear movement inside the house.

That was when he realized that all the animals were silent as well. The only noises came from the various machines scattered around the farm.

Sips stepped back from the door and looked around. Maybe Sjin had gone to do something else.

That was when he saw the scarecrow in the wheat field.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, pulling out a sword. He slowly crept closer.

The scarecrow still didn't move.

Gulping, he carefully walked through the wheat and stepped up on the platform with the scarecrow.

That was when he noticed the large bloodstain on the front of the scarecrow's chest.

“Wait a second...” muttered Sips. “Scarecrows don't bleed...”

Then, cautiously reached forward, he took hold of the rags that made the head and pulled them off.

It was Sjin.

Jumping a bit, Sips quickly cut Sjin down, and he instantly collapsed.

“Shit...” muttered Sips, catching Sjin before he fell. He pulled the rest of the scarecrow rags off and saw the bleeding wound on Sjin's chest. He had lost a lot of blood, and he was incredibly pale. His breathing was ragged, his pulse was weak, he was freezing cold even though the air was relatively warm, and he wouldn't wake up.

Muttering curses under his breath, Sips dragged Sjin across the farm and pulled him into the passenger seat of the airplane. Then, after hurriedly strapping Sjin in, he quickly climbed into the pilot's seat.

“Shit, how do I fly this thing...?” mumbled Sips. He shook his head, but after finally managing to turn the plane on, he was able to maneuver it out of the hangar and face the runway.

“Hold on tight Sjin,” said Sips before gunning the engine and clumsily getting the plane into the air. He had to avoid the mountain, but he did get the hang of it.

They flew back in the direction of Lalna's castle.


	3. Severity of the Situation

Nano was sitting on the crafting table in her room cleaning her portal gun. She had to be careful, because the alcohol that had been spilled on it would occasionally cause it to fire randomly, and she had already been flung across her room twice.

Lalna couldn't exactly help her, seeing as he was passed out in her bed with a hangover. He had actually passed out an hour before when he was in his lab, but she had brought him here so she could keep an eye on him.

Not twelve seconds after she finished cleaning her portal gun, there was a loud crashing noise. Nano was so shocked that she dropped her gun. The noise was also loud enough to jolt Lalna awake.

“What the hell!” he exclaimed, sitting bolt upright and grimacing at his headache. “What was that?”

“I don't know!” exclaimed Nano, jumping to her feet and running to the window.

When she saw what was outside, she gasped. “Lalna, you're going to want to see this...”

A minute later, Lalna and Nano ran out into the courtyard. There, right next to the fountain, was the smoldering wreckage of the Spruce Moose. Sips was on his feet, trying to pull Sjin out of the plane. They were both a bit burnt, and Sips had a bleeding cut under his eye.

“Sips, what's going on?” asked Lalna as he ran over and helped Sips pull Sjin from the wreckage.

“Sjin's hurt!” exclaimed Sips.

“From the crash?”

“No, before that,” said Sips frantically. “I found him all tied up and he won't open his eyes!”

Suddenly, they managed to pull Sjin free, and Lalna and Nano picked him up and carried him inside, Sips following close behind.

They brought Sjin downstairs to Lalna's lab, and they laid him on one of the tables while Lalna found and set up a bed for him.

“Sips, tell us exactly what happened,” said Lalna over his shoulder.

“W-well I went to his farm to visit him, and I found him tied to a post,” said Sips frantically. “He was wearing that purple scarecrow skin when I found him, like someone was trying to disguise him.”

Nano and Lalna both slowly turned and looked at Sips.

“He was... wearing Strawfingers' skin...?” asked Nano.

Lalna shook his head a bit and finished getting a bed set up. He moved Sjin over to the bed and started to examine the wound on his chest.

“This is strange...” he said. “Normally a wound this shallow wouldn't bleed this much... Not even the trauma would be enough to put him in a coma...”

“Do you think it could be some sort of flux poisoning?” asked Nano, who was standing next to Lalna and examining Sjin as well.

“It must be,” said Lalna. “Especially if it has something to do with Strawfingers.”

“Whoa whoa whoa wait,” said Sips. “Who said anything about Strawfingers?”

“Well, you did,” said Lalna. “Did you get a concussion when you crashed the plane? You said he was wearing his skin.”

“But we killed him!” exclaimed Sips. “He burned in the volcano!”

“Maybe a part of him respawned,” said Nano with a shrug. Suddenly, her eyes widened. “Or maybe...”

She turned and looked closer at Sjin, and using a bit of magic, she could see what looked like an air of purple magic shimmering around him, originating from the wound.

“Or maybe it's a flux doppelgänger,” she said.

“A what?” exclaimed Sips.

Nano turned to face Sips and Lalna. “Maybe when Strawfingers died, he released his flux, and it manifested into something. I think it stabbed Sjin and took his form, which is why the real Sjin is in a coma now! And maybe... maybe the flux still has Strawfingers' mind...”

“So you think... he's trying to get revenge on everyone who contributed to killing him...?” asked Lalna.

“Probably,” said Nano. “He probably took Sjin's form to get to Sips.”

Then, before anyone could speak, the air behind Nano began to shimmer ever so slightly.

Lalna saw it, and without thinking, he ran forward and shoved Nano out of the way.

A split second later, Sjin's doppelgänger appeared and stabbed Lalna through the chest.

Nano screamed, and Lalna staggered backwards as Strawfingers pulled the sword out of his chest. He doubled over, clutching the wound, but he still managed to stay on his feet.

The doppelgänger backed away and it's form began to shift.

Then Lalna pulled out his laser and started shooting at it.

The doppelgänger fully morphed into Lalna just as one of the shakily fired lasers hit it in the arm.

As soon as the doppelgänger fully changed, Lalna dropped to the ground, unconscious, and the doppelgänger disappeared.

Nano ran forward and knelt down next to Lalna. The wound on his chest was bleeding, but not profusely. However, there was another wound on his arm, in the exact same place where he had shot Strawfingers.

Nano's eyes widened, but before she could say anything, Sjin suddenly sat bolt upright with a gasp.

“Scarecrow!” he screamed, gasping for breath and looking around frantically.

“Sjin!” exclaimed Sips.

“Hey!” shouted Nano. “You two! You need to go warn Xephos and Honeydew! That's where he'll go next.”

“What's going on?” asked Sjin frantically.

“Sips can explain later,” said Nano. “Now both of you _go_! And make sure you don't hurt the doppelgänger.”

“Wait, what?” exclaimed Sips.

“If you hurt the doppelgänger it hurts whoever they're bonded with,” she quickly explained. “Now go tell Xephos and Honeydew what's going on. I'll stay here and take care of him.” She looked down at the comatose scientist, her face softening for a moment.

“Now hurry.”


	4. Hostage

Xephos was admiring the sunset when Strawfingers attacked.

It had been a long day at the factory, and all he really wanted was a bit of peace and quiet.

He didn't even hear the footsteps at first. However, at the last second, he realized there was someone right behind him.

Whipping around, he saw Lalna. He also saw the sword that was being swung at him.

Using his lightning fast reflexes, he dodged the sword and pulled out his own weapon.

“Lalna!” he shouted. “What the hell are you doing?!”

The scientist didn't speak. He only charged for another attack, his facial expression not changing.

Xephos blocked the attack and fought back, doing more dodging than actual fighting.

Lalna, on the other hand, was clearly trying to murder him.

Suddenly, Honeydew rounded the corner. “What's going on?” he exclaimed.

The scientist turned and charged at him, but Xephos tackled him to the ground.

Lalna was on the ground for two seconds before he teleported right behind Xephos. He raised his sword, but Xephos whipped around and sliced his leg open.

The doppelgänger stumbled backwards, and Honeydew ran for Xephos.

The scientist lunged again, aiming to stab Xephos through the back.

An arrow flew out of nowhere and impaled itself on the sword, knocking it away from Xephos.

Everyone turned to see that Sips and Sjin had arrived, and Sjin was holding a bow.

Knowing he was outnumbered, the doppelgänger disappeared, teleporting away.

“What the fuck just happened?!” shouted Xephos, pulling himself to his feet.

“It's Strawfingers!” exclaimed Sips. “He's back and he wants revenge on everyone who helped kill him.”

Honeydew looked incredibly confused. “Then why was Lalna-”

Sjin cut Honeydew off. “That wasn't Lalna. The real Lalna is comatose back at his castle, probably with a new cut on his leg. That was a doppelgänger. A flux doppelgänger.”

“Wait a second, so the doppelgänger is Strawfingers?” exclaimed Xephos.

Sips and Sjin nodded.

“He's after all of us because we murdered him,” said Sjin, “and we can't kill him now because he's bonded with Lalna, and it would kill them both.”

Xephos' eyes widened. “He's going after all of us...?” 

They nodded. 

He turned to Honeydew. “Stay with Sips and Sjin,” he said before turning and sprinting off.

**XXX**

Nano was bandaging Lalna's leg. She had been in the middle of trying to break whatever curse was keeping him comatose when he suddenly cried out and a bleeding gash appeared on his leg.

At first she had panicked, fearing they would kill the doppelgänger and Lalna at the same time, but after a few more minutes when no more wounds appeared, she calmed down a bit and started to bandage the wound.

That was when it happened. She wasn't sure how she knew. Maybe it was the way the hair on the back of her neck stood up, or the scent of ozone, or the small whimpering noise Lalna made.

Without hesitating, she turned around and shot a blast of magic.

A split second later, Strawfingers appeared and the blast of magic slammed into him, freezing him in place and forming a crystalline substance around him. Purple smoke and flux swirled around him as he tried to teleport, but Nano's magic was strong enough to hold him in place.

She stepped closer to the frozen doppelgänger. His eyes followed her, burning with hate.

“You can't speak, can you?” said Nano, her expression calm and her voice steady even though she could see cracks beginning to form in the magic as Strawfingers broke through the spell.

“You'll never succeed,” she said. “We're going to kill you again and this time we will make sure you _never_ respawn...”

He glared at her, and the cracks in the magic began to spread.

Nano glared as his form flickered. His eyes turned purple for a minute.

“You can't keep the same form for long, can you?” she asked. “You'll have to take another form soon... Unless...”

He was almost through the magic already.

“... Unless I kill you now.”

She turned around and pulled out her sword. Then she walked over to the comatose Lalna and put her sword to his throat.

“If I kill him,” she said, looking at Strawfingers, “you'll die as well.”

For the first time, panic appeared in the eyes of the doppelgänger. Nano saw the panic, and she pressed her sword into Lalna's shoulder, drawing a bit of blood. A spot of red sprung up on the shoulder of the doppelgänger as well.

Suddenly, he broke through the magic. Instead of attacking, he shot forward and disarmed her before teleporting away.

As soon as he was gone, Nano breathed a sigh of relief. She was shaking, and she realized the horror of what she had been about to do. Tears appeared in her eyes, and she sat back down next to Lalna and started to clean the wound on his shoulder. The wound she had inflicted on him.

“I'm so sorry...” she whispered to him, taking his hand and holding it tight. “I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry...”


	5. Void Flux

It was dark when Xephos reached Lomadia. He burst through the door and found Lomadia with her bow and a couple arrows, using a painting on her wall as target practice.

She jumped to her feet when Xephos came in.

“Xeph, what's wrong?” she asked, seeing how panicked he was.

He dashed inside and slammed the door shut behind him, locking it.

“It's Strawfingers,” he said frantically. “He's back, he can change how he looks, and he's trying to kill us.”

Lomadia shook her head and took out her sword. “What do you mean he can change how he looks?”

“He turned into a flux doppelgänger so he can change his form,” said Xephos. “Right now he looks like Lalna, but he probably won't be able to hold that form for long. As soon as he loses his form, we have to kill him.”

“Xephos, slow down a bit,” said Lomadia.

Xephos took a deep breath and tried to calm down. “Okay, all I know is that if we hurt him when he still looks like Lalna, it'll hurt Lalna too.”

Lomadia nodded, even though she was still a bit confused.

Suddenly, there was a sharp crackling noise just outside the door.

Then the door was blown open, and the doppelgänger stepped inside.

Xephos immediately charged at him and went to tackle him to the ground, even though it didn't work so well last time.

Instead of dodging him, the doppelgänger turned and slammed headlong into him, throwing him backwards and knocking him to the ground. When Xephos hit the ground, the back of his head slammed against the floor, knocking him out of commission. Then the doppelgänger turned and went for Lomadia.

Lomadia backed up and dodged a swing from the doppelgänger. He swung again, and she blocked it, doing her best to disarm him without hurting him. They fought this way for several minutes, Lomadia slowly moving backwards until her back was almost against the wall.

Suddenly, Strawfingers lunged and slammed into her, pinning her against the wall with the sword to her throat. The only thing that saved her was her own sword, which was holding the blade away from her neck.

As she struggled to get away, she realized something.

The right hand on the doppelgänger wasn't mechanical like Lalna's. If she hurt it, the real Lalna would only feel some phantom pain. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than physically hurting him.

She let her feet drop out from under her, and she slipped out of the monster's grip. He stumbled and turned, and Lomadia swung her sword and cut off his right hand, the one holding the sword.

The doppelgänger stumbled backwards, clutching the wound as black blood gushed from it.

Lomadia ran over to Xephos, who had just regained consciousness, and she helped him to his feet.

“What happened?” he asked quickly.

“I cut off his hand,” said Lomadia. “The actual Lalna has a mechanical hand, so he shouldn't have been hurt from that.”

Xephos nodded, and he was about to say something, but then something started happening to the doppelgänger.

It's form flickered, revealing nothing but darkness underneath. It flickered a few more times before it finally lost it's form.

The creature, the flux doppelgänger, seemed to be made of liquid smoke. It was surrounded by swirling black and purple mist, it had long thin arms with large claws at the end of each finger, and it had no distinguishable facial features except narrowed glowing purple eyes.

Even though it lacked a visible mouth, it snarled. Then it charged at them.

They both jumped out of the way, so the creature flew between them. As it passed, Xephos sliced away at it's chest. His sword connected, and black blood splattered across the floor. It evaporated a second later in a hiss of purple steam.

Before they could react, Strawfingers attacked again. He backhanded Xephos in the chest and sent him flying across the room. Then he turned and clawed at Lomadia.

Lomadia dodged him, narrowly avoiding the razor sharp claws. She turned and sliced his arm open, but the wound healed before it even had the chance to start bleeding.

“Shit...” she muttered under her breath. Then Strawfingers turned and elbowed her in the jaw. The impact knocked her to the ground.

Strawfingers raised his clawed hand, ready to slice her open.

Then Xephos came in from behind, his sword above his head, ready to stab Strawfingers through the back.

At the last second, the monster sensed him. It turned and sliced him open. At the same time, Xephos plunged his sword through the monster's throat.

Xephos was knocked backwards by the attack, and the doppelgänger stumbled back, screeching and tearing at the sword that was still lodged in its throat.

Before it could do anything, another figure appeared in the doorway. This figure threw something at the monster, and it exploded on impact, blowing its arm off.

It was Honeydew. He ran inside, his sword drawn. With a cry of rage, he sliced at Strawfingers, moving too fast for the monster. He sliced at its legs and cut its Achilles' tendons.

The monster dropped to its knees, but just before Honeydew was able to cut its head off, it disappeared. Xephos' sword fell to the floor with a clatter.

Everything was silent for a moment.

“Is it dead...?” Xephos finally asked, his voice quiet.

“I doubt it,” said Lomadia, standing up and grimacing at the pain in her jaw. “Honeydew...”

He looked up at her, looking a bit pale.

“Thanks,” she said.

Honeydew smiled. “Eh, it's my job to save you guys,” he said, sounding out of breath, probably from sprinting all the way over to help them.

Suddenly, across the room, Xephos grimaced and cried out as he tried to stand up. He clutched his side and dropped back to his knees. Lomadia and Honeydew were at his side in a second.

“Xeph, what's wrong?” asked Honeydew. Then he saw the three gaping wounds that Strawfingers' claws had left in his side. “Oh, that's what's wrong.”

“Hold on,” said Lomadia, standing up and running to one of the chests around the room. “I've got bandages.”

She returned a second later with a roll of bandages and cloth. She and Honeydew helped Xephos pull his jacket off, and they saw that the entire left half of his shirt was covered in blood.

Lomadia felt a bit nauseous from all the blood, but she quickly bandaged him while Honeydew held him upright. She put the bandages above his shirt, because she knew it was only a temporary patch, and it would keep him from bleeding out long enough for them to get to Lalna's castle and get him some proper medical attention.

Once she was finished, she draped his jacket over his shoulders, and she and Honeydew helped him to his feet. He grimaced and clutched his side, but Lomadia supported him enough that he was able to stand.

“Okay, let's get the hell out of here,” said Honeydew.

They left the house and made the long walk to Lalna's castle. However, just as the castle came into view, Xephos cried out in pain and collapsed.

“Xeph!” exclaimed Lomadia, catching him as he went down.

“What happened?” exclaimed Honeydew.

Xephos had suddenly become incredibly pale. There was a thin layer of sweat on his forehead, and he was gasping for breath. His eyes were cloudy and pained, and he was shaking violently.

“It's okay Xeph, we're almost there,” said Lomadia. She looked at Honeydew. “Help me out here.”

Standing, Lomadia picked up Xephos' upper body, and Honeydew got his legs. Xephos cried out in pain from the movement, but they had no other choice.

They hurried up to Lalna's castle. The gate was already open, so they ran inside. Lomadia kicked open the door to Lalna's lab.

“Help!” she shouted as they dragged Xephos inside.

Nano and Lalna – who had woken up as soon as Strawfingers lost his form – appeared, and Lalna took Xephos.

“What happened to him?!” exclaimed Lalna as he carried Xephos over to the bed and laid him down.

“Strawfingers sliced him open,” said Lomadia. “He was fine for a while, but he collapsed just before we got here.”

Lalna cut away the bloody bandages and his shirt, revealing the wound. The three gaping cuts were still bleeding, and veins of black were radiating out from the wounds. Because of the location, the streaks of black had already reached his heart.

Lalna gulped and looked up at Lomadia and Honeydew. “Sips and Sjin are upstairs. You guys should to upstairs too and get some rest. This could take a while...”

“Let us know if anything happens,” said Lomadia.

“We will,” said Nano, who was feeling a bit sick after looking at the wounds.

Lalna and Nano rebandaged the wound, and Lalna gave Xephos some medicine to help with the pain.

After he got the medicine, he came back into consciousness for a moment.

“W-what happened...?” he stammered quietly.

Nano was standing by his bed, so she leaned into his field of vision.

“Hey, Xeph,” she said quietly, smiling as she did so. “You got hurt, but you'll be okay. How do you feel?”

“Tired...” he mumbled sleepily. “Is... is everyone else okay...?”

Nano nodded and put her hand on his forehead, both brushing his hair back and feeling his fever at the same time. “Everybody is okay, thanks to you guys.” His fever was on the rise.

That was when Lalna came over.

“Hey, thanks for not killing me,” he said with a weak smile.

Xephos smiled back at him and let out a pained, breathy laugh.

Lalna's smile widened a bit, but it still wasn't enough to hide the sadness in his expression.

“Here,” he said, holding up a syringe. “This is something else for the pain. Ready?”

Xephos nodded weakly, and Lalna injected the medicine into his arm. Only a minute later, he was asleep.

They were both quiet for a minute. Finally, Lalna and Nano looked up at each other.

“Do you know what it is?” Lalna asked, seeing as Nano was an expert on flux after having learned to control her own flux poisoning. 

Nano looked at Xephos to make sure he was asleep. Slowly, she sadly shook her head.

“He's been poisoned with Void flux,” she said. “... It's fatal... and there's no cure...”

Lalna looked down at Xephos. So that was it then. He was going to die and there was nothing they could do to save him. If the origin of the poison had been a limb and they had got to him earlier, they might have been able to save him at the cost of the infected limb, but it was too late. The wound couldn't be amputated, and the poison had already reached his heart, meaning it had probably spread all over his body.

“We should... we should probably tell them...” said Lalna quietly.

Nano nodded, and she opened her mouth to say something, but then she stopped. Her eyes widened and she looked up at Lalna.

“Oh my gods...” she mumbled.

“What?” asked Lalna.

“Strawfingers is a flux doppelgänger, so he's basically a bad case of flux poisoning!” exclaimed Nano.

Lalna stared at her, not understanding.

Nano smiled. “I think I know how to beat him.”


	6. Sunrise

There was a chance. A small, finite chance that the plan would work. But they were going for it anyways, because not only was it a plan to kill Strawfingers, it was a plan to save Xephos.

Nano had a few theories. The first was that Strawfingers and Xephos were somehow bonded, and that bond was what was allowing the Void flux to spread. It wasn't a physical bond, so destroying Strawfingers wouldn't harm Xephos, but it would break the curse.

The second theory was that Strawfingers had something with him that would stop the Void flux.

Nano knew that Void flux usually killed whatever it inhabited. It would even kill a creature like Strawfingers. She deduced that he must have something with him that was keeping him from being poisoned by the Void flux he was made of. If they could get that, they could cure Xephos.

Lalna had taken Lomadia aside and explained what was happening to Xephos. Or at least, that's what Nano assumed. She hadn't been able to hear the conversation, but she saw Lomadia afterward. Her eyes were red and her face was pale.

After that, she told Nano she was staying at the castle with Xephos while the others carried out the plan. Nano asked her why, but she wouldn't say, other than wanting to stay with Xephos and make sure he was okay.

Xephos was awake and aware of his condition as well. He had asked Lalna about it when he started coughing up blood and bits of flesh. Lalna explained to him that the poison was shutting down his internal organs and causing hemorrhaging, and what he was coughing up was most likely bits of his stomach and lungs. 

Xephos didn't have much longer. They had to carry out the plan.

At midnight, they left the castle and headed for the one place they knew Strawfingers would be drawn to.

The Blackrock crater.

They brought what they needed with them. Lalna, Nano, Sips, and Sjin were each carrying crystals and strange devices made out of obsidian totems and glass.

Honeydew carried nothing but a sword, a pickaxe, and the armor on his back. He had volunteered to act as the bait.

They reached the Blackrock crater and spread out. Honeydew climbed down into the center of the crater, not worrying about the lingering radiation because of his immunity to practically everything. The other four positioned themselves around the edge of the crater, equal distances between them. They set up the devices, which looked like an obsidian totem with a large magnifying glass attached to it. There was a lever on the side to turn it on.

Lalna placed his green crystal on the totem and made sure it was locked in. Then he ran around and checked Nano's red crystal, Sips' blue one, and Sjin's yellow one. All of them were hooked in, and the magnifying glasses were aimed right at the center of the crater.

Honeydew waited tensely, looking around. He had volunteered as bait because he didn't trust anyone but himself to secure whatever Strawfingers had that prevented the Void flux from killing him.

Dawn was approaching when Strawfingers finally appeared. He was still in his flux form, which was a great cause of relief to Honeydew. He hadn't taken any more victims.

When the flux doppelgänger saw Honeydew, he charged forward, down into the crater.

Honeydew knew that Strawfingers would be too fast for the crystals to catch him. He would have to cripple him.

Strawfingers lunged at Honeydew, but the dwarf reacted with surprising dexterity. He dodged the claws and dove out of the way.

Strawfingers lunged past him and whipped around again. He snarled, and his lower face split open to reveal a large mouth with black dagger-like teeth. He roared at Honeydew before lunging at him again.

Honeydew blocked the claws with his sword and succeeded in cutting off the monster's right hand.

That was when he realized that the fight had migrated over to the edge of the crater. He had to get Strawfingers back in the center.

Turning, he ran for the center of the crater, but Strawfingers was faster than him.

The flux beast was on him in a second, and with it's left hand, it backhanded him. The impact sent him flying, and he landed right in the center of the crater, winded but unharmed thanks to his armor.

Quickly rolling over on his back, he only had time to think “Oh shit” before Strawfingers was on him again.

The beast stood over him on all fours, it's face only inches away from his.

It opened its mouth and screamed right in his face.

Honeydew flinched away from the scream, closing his eyes and grimacing. He raised his sword, but Strawfingers grabbed it and crushed it into shards.

The only weapon Honeydew had left was his ruby pickaxe.

Strawfingers raised his claw and brought it down, trying to slice him apart.

Honeydew lunged to his left and just narrowly avoided the poisonous claws. He pulled out his pickaxe, holding it by the head instead of the handle.

Strawfingers was still trying to get his claw unstuck from where it had lodged itself in the ground, so he swatted at the pickaxe with the stump of his right hand. It hit it, and the wooden handle snapped off.

Strawfingers almost had his hand free.

Then Honeydew smiled. He was still holding the head of the pickaxe.

Then he threw it.

It sailed right past Strawfingers' head.

The flux beast looked at him almost tauntingly, and Honeydew could have sword he heard it laugh.

And then another noise appeared.

Then head of the pickaxe acted like a boomerang. It spun through the air and turned around, flying right back towards them.

It sliced through the back of Strawfingers' legs, slicing both tendons at once.

As soon as Strawfingers let out a cry and dropped to his knees, Honeydew rolled backwards and away from the beast.

Then from on top of the crater, four beams of light shot down and hit Strawfingers.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then Strawfingers began to dissolve.

The beams of light were pulling the flux away, tearing him apart. Honeydew watched with wide eyes.

Strawfingers let out a feral cry of pain and anger. He ripped his claw free from the ground and tried to stand, but his cut tendons hadn't healed yet, and he collapsed back to his knees.

Then he looked up at Honeydew.

Looking him directly in the eye, Strawfingers reached up with his only remaining claw and slashed his own chest open. Honeydew could see something glowing bright purple behind the exposed ribcage.

Strawfingers reached inside his chest and grabbed the object, which was right where his heart should have been.

He ripped it out and held it up.

It was a crystal. A glowing, light purple crystal. Honeydew could clearly see the Void flux forming a ring around it yet unable to touch it.

The crystal had been the thing protecting him from the Void flux. And it was the only thing that would be able to save Xephos.

Honeydew started to run for it, but then Strawfingers smiled, and he stopped, paralyzed with a sudden fear.

Honeydew and Strawfingers looked each other in the eye.

Then Strawfingers crushed the crystal in his hand, destroying it.

“NO!” screamed Honeydew.

Suddenly, a blindingly bright light began to shine from Strawfingers' hand. The fragments of the destroyed crystal were emitting the glow.

The air around Strawfingers started to surge with energy.

Honeydew heard Lalna screaming for him to get out of there, but he couldn't move.

Suddenly, the ground beneath his feet disappeared and he found himself face first on the ground outside of the crater. He looked up and saw Lalna holding a portal gun.

Lalna and Nano pulled him to his feet.

“What happened?” exclaimed Lalna, having to shout over the noise the flux capturing devices were making.

“He destroyed the crystal!” shouted Honeydew on the verge of tears. “The one that could save Xephos.”

Before either of them could respond, a horrible screeching noise came from the closest machine. Lalna ran to it and looked down into the crater. Strawfingers – or what was left of him – was now surrounded in the blinding light. The machines were shaking and the crystals were glowing dangerously bright.

“Shit!” exclaimed Lalna, stumbling backwards. “Get away from the machines!” He grabbed Honeydew and Nano and shoved them back.

In the center of the crater, the light around Strawfingers exploded in a massive wave of flux. All of the flux was absorbed into the machines, which overloaded and, about half a second later, exploded.

All four machines exploded at once. Then they and Strawfingers and everything else in the crater were gone.

It was over.

Slowly, Honeydew sat up, shell shocked from being so close to the blast. Other than the ringing in his ears, however, he was fine.

Looking over, he saw Lalna and Nano standing up. Lalna had thrown himself on top of Nano when the machines exploded, saving her from being hurt. There was a large shard of metal lodged into Lalna's shoulder, but he didn't seem to notice.

Then Honeydew noticed something else. On the other side of the crater, Sips was standing and frantically waving his arms around.

“Oh shit...” muttered Lalna. He and Nano turned and ran around the edge of the crater over to where Sips was.

Honeydew stumbled to his feet and followed them. When he arrived, he saw Sjin on the ground, covered in blood. His left leg from the knee down was gone.

Lalna was at his side, bandaging the wound and tying a tourniquet. Sips was sitting on the ground next to Sjin, holding his hand and trying not to burst into tears. Nano was next to Sips, trying to calm them both down.

When Honeydew reached them, Lalna looked up at him.

“Honeydew, go back to the castle,” he said quietly, his eyes sad and his expression pained.

Honeydew knew what he meant. He nodded and turned, running back to the castle and trusting that Sjin would survive.

He had something else to worry about.

Running faster than he ever had in his life, Honeydew reached the castle in no time.

He burst through the door and ran over to Xephos, kneeling down on the other side of the bed.

Xephos was almost gone. His eyes were closed, he was barely breathing, and there was a trickle of blood coming out of the corner of his mouth. He was deathly pale, and Honeydew could see that the veins of black had spread across most of his body. They had even spread up his neck and across his left eye.

“H-how is he?” he asked Lomadia, who hadn't moved when he came in. She simply remained in her chair, holding Xephos' hand. Honeydew took the other hand and found it to be freezing.

Slowly, Lomadia shook her head. “He doesn't have much longer.”

“But... we killed Strawfingers. We destroyed him... It should have broken the curse...” whispered Honeydew.

“Void flux isn't a curse,” said Lomadia quietly, not taking her eyes off Xephos' face. “It's a poison.”

Honeydew shook his head. “I could have saved him...” he whimpered. “Strawfingers had a crystal that stopped the flux, but he destroyed it. If... if I hadn't hesitated... I... I could have...” He couldn't continue. A second later, he started crying. He wrapped both his hands around Xephos' hand. “I'm so sorry Xeph...”

A moment later, Xephos coughed a bit, and he opened his hazy eyes. They weren't even glowing.

“Lom...” he choked out.

“I'm here...” she whispered, squeezing his hand.

“I can't see..” he said, his voice nothing but a whisper.

“Shh...” she said quietly, stroking his hair back. “It's okay. Honeydew is here too...”

Xephos smiled. “I can tell,” he said, squeezing Honeydew's hand.

Honeydew smiled sadly. “W-we did it,” he said. “We beat Strawfingers.”

Xephos closed his sightless eyes and nodded. “Good,” he said. “Did... did anyone get hurt...?”

“No,” he lied. “Everyone is okay.”

Xephos nodded once before grimacing in pain. Lomadia dabbed at his forehead with a wet cloth until he was relaxed again.

“W-what... what time is it...?” asked Xephos quietly, not opening his eyes. It made his fear of the dark easier to handle.

“It's sunrise,” said Lomadia, glancing out the window.

A small, pained smile appeared on Xephos' face. “I like sunrise...”

Lomadia smiled sadly. “You would like this one...” she said, somehow managing to keep her voice steady as tears ran down her face. Honeydew was already crying silently, still holding Xephos' hand between his own hands.

“W-what does it look like?” asked Xephos quietly. The black streaks had spread further.

Lomadia wiped the tears away with her free hand. “R-right now the sun's coming up o-over the forest. The... the sky's bright orange like...”

“Like the color of my beard,” said Honeydew, trying to swallow the knot in his throat.

Xephos smiled and let out a small breathy laugh. “Does the sun look like a torch?” he asked, his face starting to look less pained.

Honeydew nodded. “Yeah, a giant torch. It's like when you put a million torches in one place.”

Xephos let out another small laugh. “I do have a problem with torches, don't I...?” he asked quietly, smiling when Honeydew laughed.

Lomadia smiled sadly at this. Honeydew was distracting Xephos from the fear and the pain.

Looking down a bit, she saw that what looked like a large bruise was appearing on Xephos' back and creeping up his ribcage. She knew this was caused by all the blood he was losing internally. It was pooling at his back.

He had lost so much blood. It wouldn't be long now...

Suddenly, Xephos started to weakly cough. The coughing made more blood come out of his mouth, and his pained expression returned.

“This... this is... it... isn't it...” he gasped out, breathing hard.

Neither of them responded.

“I'm not... in pain... anymore...” he said, sounding out of breath.

“Then how do you feel?” asked Lomadia quietly.

“Tired...” replied Xephos, sounding like he was about to fall asleep.

“Then go to sleep,” said Honeydew quietly, squeezing Xephos' hand. “It'll be okay...”

Xephos' face became paler, and he looked like he was about to cry. “I... I don't w-want to go...” he said quietly, his voice incredibly weak now. “I'm scared...”

“We'll stay with you the whole time,” Lomadia whispered to him, leaning forward and kissing his forehead.

Xephos was quiet for a moment. Then he opened his sightless eyes, seeming to look directly at both of them. “Promise...?”

Lomadia and Honeydew nodded. “Promise...” they both replied at the same time.

Xephos smiled and closed his eyes for the last time.

“Goodnight...” he whispered, the small smile remaining on his pale face.

A moment later, he stopped breathing. After another minute, his heart stopped beating.

And by the time the sun had fully broken the horizon, Xephos was dead, but Honeydew and Lomadia remained where they sat, holding his hands even though he was already asleep.


	7. Five Years Later

Lomadia stood on the back porch of her house, leaning against the rail and looking out into the backyard, where her son ran around, playing with a wooden sword.

It had been five years now.

Five years since Strawfingers attacked.

And five years since Xephos died.

Even now when she closed her eyes she could still remember it. She could still remember the sun rising as he died. She remembered the funeral they held the next night. She remembered the full moon reflecting against the still surface of the water. The dark shape of the boat as it drifted out to sea. The six burning arrows, one of which had been shot by her.

She couldn't remember much of what happened after that. Sips and Sjin – who was sporting a new mechanical leg – had both gone back to Sjin's farm, and she hadn't seen them since. Lalna and Nano had gone back to the castle, but after Nano found out she was pregnant, they moved out of the castle and into an actual house. Their new home was much closer to Lomadia though.

Lomadia stayed on Owl Island, but she had completely rebuilt her home, not able to stand being in the same house where Xephos was poisoned.

When her son was born, six months after Xephos was killed, she had been both incredibly happy and unbearably sad. Xephos would have been so happy to know that he had a son.

Xephos had chosen his name though. The night he died, Lomadia told him they were going to have a baby, and they spent half of the night coming up with names. That was how her son had gotten the name Lux.

And as for Honeydew... Lomadia still couldn't think about him without feeling the urge to cry.

So she stood there, watching her son fight pretend monsters.

She smiled a bit. He was so much like Xephos. He had the same smile and glowing blue eyes, and he was just as brave and adventurous.

She feared it would get him into trouble some day.

After a few more minutes, she heard the door open behind her. Turning around, she saw Lalna standing in the doorway, his daughter Pixel standing next to him holding his hand. When she saw Lux playing in the backyard, however, she let go and ran out to play with him.

“You're late,” said Lomadia as Lalna came around and stood beside her.

“Do you know how hard it is to braid a four year old girl's hair with one prosthetic arm?” asked Lalna sarcastically.

Lomadia smiled and rolled her eyes. Then they both stood in silence for a while, watching their kids pretend to fight each other.

“They're so cute,” said Lomadia. “I think Pixel would do well with a sibling.”

“Well, Nano's pregnant again, so she should be getting a new sibling soon,” said Lalna. He didn't feel the need to mention that the last two times they had tried for another baby, they had both been stillborn.

After a few more minutes, Lalna spoke up.

“So... are you okay?” he asked quietly. “I mean... it's been exactly five years...”

Lomadia nodded. “I know... and recently, Lux has been asking a lot about his father.”

“What did you tell him?” asked Lalna, casting a sidelong glance at Lomadia.

She shrugged and smiled sadly. “What else would I tell him? I told him his father was a hero. I told him about his adventures, and how many times he saved the world.”

“Hey, I was there for some of those,” said Lalna jokingly.

“Yeah, and all the other times you were the villain.”

“... This is true.”

Lomadia rolled her eyes.

“Have you told him about Honeydew?” asked Lalna.

Lomadia nodded. “Yeah, a bit... Maybe when he gets a bit older, I'll take him to Stoneholm, and we can go visit Honeydew.”

Lalna shook his head a bit. “I haven't seen him since he left.”

“Me either,” said Lomadia. “I hope he's okay.”

“Yeah...” said Lalna quietly.

They were quiet for another minute, watching the kids play.

“Y'know,” said Lalna, “there's no way we'll be able to stop them from going on adventures when they're older.”

“As long as they stick together, I think they'll be okay,” said Lomadia.

Lalna nodded. “You know that as soon as he gets out there and starts going on adventures, he's going to run into people that knew who Xephos was. Both the good guys and the bad guys.”

“I know,” said Lomadia. “But he'll learn from it. He'll learn about all the amazing things Xephos did. All the people he and Honeydew helped... He'll see his father as a legend.”

Lalna smiled a bit, looking tired. “Well, you know what they say about legends.”

Lomadia looked at him.

“Yeah,” she said quietly. “Legends never truly die...”

They didn't say anything else after that. They just stood there, watching their children play while they thought about the future and reflected on the past.

The sun was setting on the horizon, glowing bright orange like a torch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know that ending was a bit cheesy (in my mind) but I hope you liked it. Honestly, this one isn't even the darkest one in the series. Up next on the list is some pretty fucked up stuff. Prepare your butts.


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